Phil­an­thropist, “Woman of the Mil­len­ni­um”, Busi­ness Hall of Famer and ORTT re­cip­i­ent, He­len Bhag­wans­ingh, has died at the age of 83 years.

Bhag­wans­ingh’s Hard­ware Group Mar­ket­ing Man­ag­er, Bali­ram John, con­firmed the news of her pass­ing, and told Guardian Me­dia she breathed her last at 1:00 this morn­ing.

All Bhag­wans­ingh’s stores across the coun­try have been closed to­day to mark her pass­ing, as the man­age­ment and staff have been plunged in­to mourn­ing for the woman who made Bhag­wans­ingh’s a true “fam­i­ly busi­ness”.

He­len Bhag­wans­ingh had many ho­n­ours con­ferred up­on her through­out her life.

In Au­gust 2011, she was one of four out­stand­ing cit­i­zens who re­ceived the pres­ti­gious Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go (ORTT), for dis­tin­guished and out­stand­ing ser­vice to T&T in the sphere of com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice.  That year, her fel­low awardees in­clud­ed Chair­man Emer­i­tus of ANSA McAL Group of Com­pa­nies, Dr An­tho­ny Nor­man Sab­ga; Jus­tice Philip Louis Ul­ric Cross; and for­mer First La­dy, Za­lay­har Has­sanali, wid­ow of the late Pres­i­dent Noor Has­sanali.

Al­so in 2011, The Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies con­ferred up­on her the ti­tle of Doc­tor of Law, hon­oris causa.

A year ear­li­er in 2010, she was in­duct­ed in­to the Busi­ness Hall of Fame by the Trinidad and To­ba­go Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce.

Revered as one of the most suc­cess­ful busi­ness­women in T&T, He­len Bhag­wans­ingh was born in San Fer­nan­do in 1940. 

At age 11, she left school to run her fam­i­ly's bi­cy­cle re­pair shop. He­len mar­ried Hu­bert Bhag­wans­ingh in 1959.  Ten years lat­er, in 1969, she pur­chased the Kay Don­na Dri­ve-In cin­e­ma, Val­sayn, which she ran suc­cess­ful­ly un­til sell­ing it 1977.

Bhag­wans­ingh, once again, joined her fam­i­ly's hard­ware busi­ness. She ran and lat­er bought a small branch of Ra­moutars­ingh's Hard­ware, Sea Lots. It took her and her hus­band two years to turn Ra­moutars­ingh's in­to a boom­ing busi­ness. Bhag­wans­ingh re­named the store Bhag­wans­ingh's Hard­ware. She ex­pand­ed the hard­ware's reach by pro­vid­ing a full range of build­ing sup­plies.

In 1988, a branch of Bhag­wans­ingh's was opened in Ch­agua­nas, fol­lowed by a Mara­bel­la branch in 1995 and one in Trinci­ty in 2007.

In 1996 Bhag­wans­ingh's ac­quired Dansteel and in 1998 Cen­trin, turn­ing Bhag­wans­ingh's in­to an em­pire that to­day em­ploys over 1,200—in­clud­ing her four chil­dren.

In 2000, she was named "Woman of the Mil­len­ni­um" by the T&T Cham­ber of En­er­gy and was the first woman to be in­duct­ed in­to the T&T Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce's Busi­ness Hall of Fame.

He­len Bhag­wans­ingh al­so had been praised for her so­cial con­tri­bu­tions. She es­tab­lished The UWI’s Di­a­betes Ed­u­ca­tion, Re­search and Pre­ven­tion Trust at the St Au­gus­tine Cam­pus, do­nat­ing $5 mil­lion to its start.

He­len Bhag­wans­ingh al­so was re­spon­si­ble for the Christ­mas stars erect­ed on the Laven­tille and San Fer­nan­do Hills.